Gael volckner



(No Model.)

G. VOLGKNER.

APPARATUS FOR MALTING.

- Apr. 27', 1886.

lam/8713b?"- Hi im 13 UNITE STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CARL VOLGKNER, OF VIENNA, AUSTRIAIIUNGARY.

APPARATUS FOR MALTING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 340,642, dated April 27, 1886.

Application filed September 225, 1885. Serial No. 177,948. (No model.) Patented in France July 13, 1885, No. 170,110; in Germany July 14, 1885, No. 34,114; in Belgium July 14, 1885, No. 69,589; in England July 17, 1885, No. 8,652, and in Austria-Hungary January 1, 1886, No. 25,853 and No. 67,356.

To aZZ whom it may concern Be it known that I, CARL VoLcKNnR, engincer, a subject of the Emperor of Austria- Hungary, residing at Vienna, in the Province of Lower Austria, in the Empire of Austria- Hungary, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Melting Apparatus; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference beini g had to the accompanying drawlugs, and to letters or figures of reference marked thereon which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to that class of malt- 1ng apparatus in which the process of malting is carried out pneumatically and by manual labor. This process consists in successively removing the steeped grain from one to the other of a series of malting tanks or bins having false perforated floors or bottoms and a chamber or space below said false bottom, and an imperforate bottom, said chamber or space being connected with an exhaust-duct, air previously cooled and charged with moisture being continuously drawn through the matcrial and the chambers below the same into the exhaust duct or conduit, and carried out of the apparatus. In this class of apparatus access to the malting-tanks and the chambers below the malting-tanks cannot be had without great difficulty, therefore rendering the cleaning of the apparatus difficult and tedious.

The object of my invention is to provide means whereby easy and ready access may be had to each tank and its chamber below it, and whereby a series of malting-tanks may be arranged above one another, so as to occupy but a comparatively small space. This I attain by arranging the melting-tanks around a common airexhaust shaft like a winding stairs, the grain being fed to the upper tank, and as the process of melting progresses is transferred from said tank to the next by the side and below said upper tank, and so on to the lowest tank, from which the malt is removed. The transfcr 0f the material from one tank to the other is effected by hand, and

each transfer insures the turning of the charge. The tanks have a perforated false bottom and an imperforate bottom, between which is formed a space or chamber that communicates by a valved port with the central air-exhaust shaft, thus requiring but one airexhaust shaft for all the tanks. The air drawn through the material is previously cooled and charged with moisture, and is admitted to the different malting floors and tanks from an airshaft provided with valved air-inlets or slatted gates.

In the accompanying drawings, Figures 1 and 2 are sectionalelevations of a maltinghouse embodying my invention, and Fig. 3 is a horizontal section of the same.

In the malthouse illustrated in the drawings I employ twenty malting-tanks, though a greater or less number may be employed, and these tanks T are arranged around a common air-shaft in the following manner, referring to Fig. 3, in which four of the tanks are shown: The tank T being the uppermost, that T the next below and to one side thereof, the tank T below tank T and adjacent thereto, and the tank T below and adjacent to tank T thus completing one convolution around the central airsbaftgA, so that the tank T will come underneath tank T, that T under tank T", and so on throughout the length of the shaft A,,said tanks T being arranged spirally around said shaft.

The tanks T are supported from a framework composed of four uprights, a, and eight uprights, a, to which are secured the brackets or other supports on which the tanks rest. The walls between and connecting the four inner uprights a form also the central air-exhaust shaft, A, and each tank has a false bot tom, 0, of perforated sheet metal or a reticulated or woven fabric and an imperforate bottom, (1, between which false perforated bottom and the imperforate bottom is formed a cham her or space that communicates with the airshaft A through a valved port, I), so that the communication between said shaft and the chambers below the tanks may be cut offat any time by manipulating the valve or damper stems or handles 1), Fig. 1, that extend through the walls of the central shaft, A.

In Fig. 1 the tanks are shown in cross-section and the air previously purified, cooled, and moistened, as hereinafter described, is drawn through the material,the'perforated bottoms c of the tanks T, the chambers below the same, and the valved ports 7) into the air-shaft A by an exhaust-fan, e, and discharged into the atmosphere.

The air admitted to the malting-tanks is taken from without and passes through a pu rifying and cooling tower or shaft, f, and is charged with moisture during its passage through said shaft, as follows: Adjacent to the vertical shaft f are two shafts, 7c and it, of the same height as said shaft f. The air from without passes through shaft or duct k, either entering at top or bottom, as may be desired, or according to the temperature or degree of pollution of the air. From shaft or duet It the air enters the shaftf at its lower end, and within the shaft are arranged a series of perforated partitions,that extend alternately from one of the walls of theshaft to near the opposite wall thereof, thus forming a zigzag passage for the air, a portion of which also passes through the perforated partitions. At the upper end of the shaft f is located a spraying apparatus, Z, consisting of perforated pipes, or pipes provided with rose-heads, to which water is fed from a reservoir, 7L. Said water falling through the successive perforated partitionsin the form of spray,serves to cool and purify the air and charge the same with moisture. From the shaft f the air passes into shaft 7c at its upper end, and is distributed to the different malting floors and tanks through valved ports g, or ports provided with slatted gates 9, so that the volume of air admitted to each malting floor or tank may be regulated or cut off at will, or according to the state of the material in the tanks.

Above the upper tank arelocated the steep ing-tanks z 13, in which the grain is steeped be fore being charged into the upper malting-tank.

Having now described the nature of my said invention and in what manner the same is to performed, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In amalting-house, the eombinatiomwith a single vertical air-shaft, of a series of malt ing tanks or floors arranged spirally around said air-shaft and having a space below their perforate false bottom, in communication with the air-shaft through suitable valved ports,substantially as and for the purpose specified.

2. In a malting-house, the combinatiomwith a single vertical air-exhaust shaft and an airexhausting apparatus connected with said shaft at the bottom thereof, of a series of malting tanks or floors arranged spirally around said air-shaft and having a space below their perforate false bottoms communicating with the air-shaft through valved ports, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

3. In a malting-house, the combination, with a single air-exhaust shaft, an air-exhausting apparatus connected therewith at its lower end, and a series of malting tanks or floors arranged spirally around the air-exhaust shaft having spaces below their perforate bottoms in communication with said shaft through suitablc valved ports, of an air-supply shaft in communication with the malting tanks or floors through suitable valved ports, and means for cooling and for purifying the air admitted and charging the same with moisture, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

cARL voLoKNE'a.

W'itnesses:

EDMUND J USSEN, O'r'ro SCHEFFER. 

